High
schools
to get 40,000
computers
a
vear
by Rebecca
Higgins
Imprint
staff

ten years in various announcements.
So the question is, will they ever get
to that 1O-to- I ratio?”
Another feature ofthe proposed
plan involves
the opportunity
for
students to access world-widecomputer networks.
Existing
classrooms as well as newly built schools
will bc provided
with networking
facilities “as soon as possible”,
according to the Backgroundcr.
The
support
for teachers
will allow
school boards to spend money on
repairs and educational
software.
One interesting
aspect of the
Backgrounder
details the devclopmcnt of partnerships
between
schools and local businesses, an act
that will likely change the face of
education permanently.
Asked if
the move would constitute the “selling-out” of the schools and industrialize the concept of education,
Wagner seemed unconcerned.
“I don’t think that’s a selling
out, I think it’s a very positive step
to say we’re all in this together. In
recent years businesses have said to
school boards and to universities
that education has to start providing graduates who are knowledgeable in today’s society to and able
to use information
technology,”
he
said. About the introduction
of this
element of the plan, Wagner leaves
room for doubt, noting,
“It’s a
fairly open-ended
statement from
the Ministry
of Education.”
The Backgrounder
and the accompanying
news release mention
that the first partnership
is already
in place, between several boards
and IBM Canada. The news release
is based on the findings ofthe Royal
Commission
on Learning.
Wagner
approvesofthcCommission’s
work
to date and is especially impressed
with the group’s acknowledgement
of education for students who will
be graduating “in the next century.”
Undeniably,
Canadian cducation is changing as it becomes more
data-oriented
and focussed on computer knowledge.
The children,
perhaps even siblings of currentlystudying university
students will be
affected in the years to come if the
proposed plan is implemented.
The
alterations
in education have been
slow to arrive in comparison
to the
massive new wave of technology
in
the home. As Rick Wagner says,
“We live in a world filled with
information
technology.
And a lot
of students have more at home in
that regard than we do in the classroom.”

to

chools across Ontario
are
about to become more tech
nology-friendly,
according
a rcccnt Backgroundcr
from the
Ministry
of Education
and Training. New adjustments
include the
proposed implementation
of a lUto-l ratio between
students
and
computers,
involving
the purchase
of 40,000 new computers
every
year. Also, curriculum-based
softwart will be more readily available, as will support for teachers.

S

“That’s a noble
objective.
The
government has
used that IO-toI ratio fur at
least the last ten
years iz2 various
announcements.
So the question
is, wiGl they ever
get to that IO-to1 ratio?”
Rick Wagner,
computer
consultant for the Waterloo
Region
Separate School Board; hesitates to
embrace the new policies just yet.
“Until we see exactly what the government’s going to do with support
for their announcement,
I tend
be
a little bit cautious as to what it will
mean for schools,”
he says. But
Wagner believes that if the plans
arc followed through with, the result will be positive.
“If they do
come through with everything that’s
in the backgrounder
and the press
release that it’s based on, things
should improve the amount of technology available for our students’
use .”
About the improved
studentsto-machines
ratio, Wagner remains
skeptical,
saying, “That’s
a noble
objective. The government
hasuscd
that 1O-to- 1 ratio for at least the last

to

IMPRINT,

Living
with

and dying
dignity

vend Robinson has recently
been in the press due to his
support
of the late Sue
Rodriguez,
and his attendance
at
her death,
Rodriguez
was dying of Lou
Gehrig’s
disease,
a nervedegenarative
disease that had completely incapacitated
her. She appealed to the Supreme Court of
Canada for the right to a doctorassisted suicide and was denied.
However,
she defied this ruling and with the help of an anonymous doctor, ended her life peacefully
on February
12, 1994.
Robinson,
a long-time
supporter,
was present.
Now, he’s coming to speak at
UW. The lecture is titled “Living
and Dying with Dignity.”
Robinson has a long history of
dealing with highly sensitive issues
that many MP’s avoid. He has been
named an Honourary
Dirctor of’both
the British Columbia
and the Ottawa Civil Liberties Associations,
and an Honourary
Board Member
for Lawyers
Against
Apart heid
(Robinson
got his law degree from

S

Svend:

I

175 Weher

St

* Trade-ins
Considered
Repair Service

VV Ow Victarial

KITCHENER

Swedish

for “Adopted

By Indians.”
for his support of their struggle to
have their land claims recognized.
Also,
he was
the NDP
Robinson
was also the first
represenative
for the 1985 Special
openly gay Member of Parliment,
Committee
on Equality Rights and
coming out publically
ill the spring
has been adopted by the Haida naof1988.
tion in the Queen Charlotte islands
UBC).

SUMMER
SESSION
1995

A selection of day and evening
courses in arts, social sciences,
science, and computer science,
at the undergraduate and
graduate levels.
itv courses
in Metro
Ottawa
channel
53 or at a distance
Specialized
justice
and
Economy.

on cable
by videocassette.

Summer
Schools
in Criminal
Social Policy,
and Political

For a copy of the 1995 Summer
Supplement,
write to the School
of Continuing
Education,
Room 302, Robertson
Hall, Carleton
University,
1125 Colonel
By Drive,
Ottawa,
Ontario
KlS 564.
(613)